Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Kazan Arrests Pro-Moscow Critic under Terms of Russia’s Anti-Extremist Law

Paul
Goble

Staunton, December 30 – Today, Rais
Suleymanov, a Tatar who has sharply criticized Kazan for supposedly assisting
the rise of radical Islam in the Middle Volga and for failing to break with
Turkey after the shooting down of a Russian plane that violated Turkish
airspace, was detained for violating the Russian law governing the publication
of extremist materials.

He was arrested and then by the action of a
Kazan court ordered to be held for seven days before he will be formally
arraigned.His supporters believe that
Kazan took this action now because the long winter holiday will prevent them
from protesting this action until sometime in January (apn.ru/publications/article34518.htm).

But their complaints miss three more
important aspects of this case, aspects that are certain to attract more
attention as news of Suleymanov’s detention spreads.First of all, it is an indication that
Tatarstan has no intention of backing down either on its demand for the
retention of a republic presidency or of breaking relations with Turkey as
Moscow has demanded.

Second, Suleymanov’s arrest shows
that Kazan has had enough of someone whose articles have been routinely
criticized by other experts as extreme, distorted and even in some cases
dishonest in their transparent effort to blacken the reputation of Tatarstan in
Moscow and to defend all Russian actions and Russian organizations there.

And third – and this is far and away
the most important thing and one that makes Kazan’s action a potential game
changer – other non-Russian republics which have their own Suleymanovs, people
from the titular nationality who have enjoyed protection because of their
pro-Moscow positions, may now follow Tatarstan’s lead.

Indeed, Moscow’s response to this
case almost certainly will reflect a fear of that possibility rather than some
commitment to Suleymanov as such.